Rotary or revolving blotter device.



No. 649,755. Patented May l5, I900. W. R. RIPLEV.

ROTARY OR REVOLVING BLGTTER DEVICE.

(Application filed Oct. 26, 1899.) -(No Model.)

l/vi blames 7 jun 07v Z jayia GMOCNQJ-J Unirnn STATES ATENI @FFICE.

"WILLIAM R. RIPLEY, OF JACKSON, TENNESSEE.

ROTARY OR REVOLVING BLOTTER DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 649,755, dated May 15, 1900.

, Application filed October 26, 1899.

To ctZZ whom it 'may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM R. RIPLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Jackson, in the county of Madison and State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary or Revolving Blotter Devices; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to rotary or revolving blotter devices designed for use on the thumb of the hand while in the act of writing with pen and ink upon paper.

The object of my invention is to produce a rotary or revolving blotter device which may be worn upon the thumb of the writer in such a manner as to enable him to blot each line of manuscript in succession immediately after he writes it by simply rolling the device back over each line in succession with the motion of moving the hand back to position for beginning another line and without removing the pen from the hand.

Another object of my invention is to produce a device of this character which will enable the writer to blot his manuscript as he writes it without requiring any displacement of the pen to pick up and operate a blotter of the description in ordinary use.

Another object of my invention is to produce a device of this kind which shall be of simple construction, comparatively light in weight, inexpensive to manufacture, and readily attached to the thumb of the writer by means which are provided for holding it in an adjusted position upon the thumb of the writer in such a manner as to permit an almost perfectly untrammeled freedom of thumb action in its accommodation to the play of the muscles of the hand while in the act of writing with pen and ink upon paper.

I attain these objects and advantages by means of the construction shown in the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a flat surface view showing the original shape of the roller-holder after it has been cut from a piece of sheet metal and be fore it has been bent into shape for fitting the thumb and accommodating the roller-blotter.

Serial No- 734,896. (No model.)

Fig. 2 is a quarter view showing the finished shape of the roller-holder after it has been bent into shape for fitting thethumb and accommodating the roller-blotter. Fig. 3 is a quarter end view showing the finished rollerblotter before it is inserted in its proper place of combination with the roller-holder. Fig. 4 is a quarter view showing the roller-holder and the roller-blotter in combination; and Fig. 5 is an operation view showing the rollerblotter inserted in the roller-holder, attached in adjusted position to the thumb of the op erator, and held in position for use in writing.

Like figures of reference designate like parts wherever they occur throughout the various views of the drawings.

In constructing my rotary or revolving blotter device I cut from a piece of sheet metal a figure almost in the shape of a cross with the side bars (or horizontal projections) flared upward at an angle of about forty-five degrees, the ends of said side bars terminating in a shape somewhat resembling a perspective side view of a birds head, the eyes and beak of the head being represented by the holes 5 5 and the knobs 9 9 at the ends of the bars, as shown in Fig. 1. I then bend this piece of sheet metal into the desired shape in the following manner: At points 8 8, about half-way between the outer end and the base of each side bar, I make bends by turning the outer halves 4 a of the side bars upward until they form at 8 8 right angles with the plane 1 of the back, as shown in Fig. 2. I then curve 2 2 (parts of the upper and lower bars or the top and the bottom of the cross) from points 6 6 just above and below the base of the side bars into shape to fit the thumb of the hand; but instead of making a complete oval I break the circle and form a month by flaring the ends 3 8 upward at '7 7 to facilitate the insertion of the thumb, as shown in Fig. 2. I then make a roller of the desired dimensions, Fig. 3, whose body 10 is formed of any suitable material, provided with pivots or spin dies 11 11 in the center of either end to fit in the holes 5 5, Fig. 2, when the roller is adjusted to the holder, said body 10 being pro vided with cylindrical tubes 12 12, so made from a single sheet of blotting-paper that each tube is integral and seamless and may be slipped on or off the body 10 by simply removing said body from its position of adj ustment within the yoke provided by the bent side bars. I then insert the roller in the holder by placing one of the pivots or spindles 11 11 in one of the holes 5 5 of the sides 4 4 and springing the sides 4 4E apart at the ends by pressing the thumb.- nail against the other knob 9 until the other pivot or spindle 11 will pass between the sides 4 4 and fit into the other hole 5, as shown in Fig. 4.

When I want to adjust the combined rollerholder and roller-blotter to the hand for use,

I hold the device in a horizontal position,with' mouth upward and on the right side and the palm of the hand downward, the plane of the back of the device being parallel with the palm of the open hand. Then I lay the thumb in the mouth of the-device and press it downward until it passes into the curved seat, when I turn the thumb in its seat until it assumes the relative position shown in Fig. 5.

It will be noticed upon reference to the drawings that my device may be made comparatively light and inexpensive, that it is capable of quite an extended range of adj ustability in size to accommodate itself to various thumbs, and that it is held in adjustment around the thumb of the wearer by the natural spring or resiliencyinherent in the metal of which the frame of the holder may be made. Another feature of some importance in the construction of my rotary or revolving blotter device is the facility with which the blottingsurface of the roller may be renewed after the original has become too much worn-for further service. This may be done by simply taking the roller out of the holder and removing the old cylindrical tube and providing a new one. i

WVithout desiring to be restricted to the exact construction shown, what I claim, and de sire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a rotary or revolving blotter device, a thumb-attachment holder made of a crossshaped strip of sheet metal which has been so cut that the side bars of the cross slant at an angle of about forty-five degrees from the upper (orshorter) end of the cross and the whole strip being then bent into the required shape (a) by the side bars being bent at right angles with the plane of the cross (at points about half-way bet ween their outer ends and the seat of the cross) so that the axle-boxes, formed in these ends, may be provided for the spindles of the revolving blotter, and (b) by the end bars being bent into curves, slightly flared outward at the ends, to form a stall or ring for the thumb of a writer, so that the whole device can be adjusted to the thumb of the Writing-hand and used for blotting, without having to lay the pen aside, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereto affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM R. RIPLEY.

Witnesses:

W. D. NUsoN, H. T. LINDSEY. 

